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The game of cricket has evolved over the years, as fitness has been an important part of the game in the contemporary world. Nowadays, cricketers are subjected to several tests in various cricket boards before they are included in the team. Virat Kohli is the unofficial ambassador of fitness in Indian cricket and has set the same example across the world.
At the age of 37, he currently remains the fittest cricketer in world cricket. He displays amazing athletic reactions, and while young stars are constantly emerging and redefining modern T20 batting, Kohli has shown that greatness is not about resisting change; It’s about mastering it. From chasing impossible targets to performing well under pressure, Virat keeps answering every challenge with his bat.
“Everyone in my U-13 team has a higher yo-yo score than Virat Kohli” – Ranjit Bajaj challenges Kohli
Every other cricketer and people outside the game have held up Kohli as an example of fitness. Now, Ranjit Bajaj, a leading Indian sports entrepreneur, football administrator and founder of Minerva Academy Football and Cricket Club, has made a bold statement on Virat. He believes that his Under-13 and Under-15 boys will score higher than Kohli in the Yo-Yo test.
“All my U13s have more yo-yo scores than Virat Kohli, I am challenging it openly
“My U15 will go far ahead of Virat Kohli”— Ranjit Bajaj #IndianFootball #AIFF pic.twitter.com/JaODMroOeN
– Raj (@Rajdeep48_IND) June 28, 2026
“My under-13 players have higher yo-yo scores than Kohli. My 13-year-olds and my 12-year-olds have higher scores than Virat Kohli. And I am saying this openly as an open challenge. My under-15 players are way ahead of them. So far. They will go ahead of Virat Kohli or the fittest cricketer India has ever seen.”
What is yo-yo test?
For those uninitiated, the yo-yo test is an intense aerobic fitness test that measures an athlete’s ability to perform repeated high-intensity intervals. Participants shuttle back and forth between 20-meter cones, keeping pace with an audio beep, followed by a short recovery break. Yo-yo test was introduced for the first time in Indian cricket in 2017.
When Virat was the captain of the team, Shankar Basu, the strength and conditioning coach of the Indian cricket team, brought him into the team. Then head coach Anil Kumble made the test a mandatory, non-negotiable benchmark for selection, which proved to be the biggest milestone in Indian cricket as India became one of the finest teams on the outfield.
Virat Kohli returns for England ODI
Kohli is away from international cricket citing hamstring injury. The former India captain suffered a setback in the final of the Tata Indian Premier League (IPL) 2026 against Gujarat Titans. This ruled him out of the Afghanistan series; However, he has been named in the upcoming ODI series against England on fitness grounds.
Kohli was present at the Center of Excellence (CoE) in Bengaluru and after passing the fitness test, he got clearance to go to England. He was recently seen watching the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup 2026 match between India and Australia at Lord’s with his wife Anushka Sharma and former India head coach Ravi Shastri and former opening batsman Shikhar Dhawan.